Your honesty drives chariots
Of pain with wheels grinding
Punches in my solar plexus
Wind knocked out of me is as
A hand violating the trachea
And pulling out the lungs
Wished for something subtler
Words unspoken, understood
Why now this raw confession
Outspoken feelings for another
I have my secrets too
No need to speak them
No need to sound
Or dispel their potent spell
By shaping them in my mouth
No need to wound
Instead I leave you
What may be hidden in my fist
A blow withheld and my
Incantatory power
Of words not spoken